Hepregen Corporation, a leading provider of bioengineered solutions that increase success in drug development in order to improve patient safety, was awarded a $500,000 grant as part of the Small Business Matching Grants program established by The Massachusetts Life Science Center. The Center’s program, launched in January 2010 as part of the state’s ten-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, leverages federal small business grant funding that early-stage life science companies in the Commonwealth have received for their work in life sciences research and development, commercialization and manufacturing.
Hepregen’s lead product HepatoPac, launched in March 2011, is a microliver platform for use in clearance predictions, metabolite profiling, transporter studies, drug-drug interactions, and toxicity determination during the drug development process. HepatoPac fits into existing work-flows and is amenable to High Content Screening, allowing it to become an integral part of preclinical analysis for DMPK and Safety. In addition, HepatoPac can also be utilized for: efficacy assessment of drugs affecting the liver, biomarker identification, creation of diseased liver models and utilization with stem cells.
“This grant is evidence of the biopharmaceutical industry’s need for more predictive platforms to improve and transform drug development,” Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bernadette C. Fendrock commented. “The funding will have significant impact as we continue to gain traction in the marketplace as more companies adopt the HepatoPac platform and as we work towards securing our Series B financing. We thank the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center for this recognition and award.”
Hepregen’s mission is to translate the value of its technology platform to improve the safety and efficacy of drugs in development with greater economic efficiency and significant impact on patients’ lives. Currently, Hepregen is partnered with over 20 pharmaceutical companies using the HepatoPac technology, including Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals,and Sanofi-aventis. In 2008, Battelle Ventures spun out Hepregen Corporation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and led the company’s Series A financing. The company is currently raising its Series B financing. In addition to growing its customer base, Hepregen seeks strategic relationships to develop a fully integrated solution for customers.
The company will be presenting at OneMedForum NY 2011.